The Politics of Philo Judaeus: Practice and Theory, with a General Bibliography of Philo

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litical treatises of Philo, In Flaccum and Legatio ad Gaium, on the as­
sumption that Philo was a man with important political interests and
experience, and hence of significance for his ideas. Tracy's limitation in
the fields of philosophy and religion made the handling of other works
by Philo quite beyond his scope, and prevented any adequate appraisal


of the two treatises he did discuss from the point of view of political
theory.
The excellent first chapter of Tracy's work presents very well "The
Political Status of Philo," so that I shall only summarize that matter as
he has outlined it. Philo had political standing from the point of view
of four groups, the Jewish organized community (noAnxuna) in Alex­
andria, the Jewish race as a whole, Alexandria as a corporate city, and
the Roman Empire or emperor.
The Jewish rroAiTeufja in Alexandria has often been discussed.^8 It
seems to have been a Jewish state within the Alexandrian city-state.


Jews had their own courts and officials, and seem to have been inde­
pendent of the Greeks in Alexandria except in their obligation to con­
form to the general government of the city, represented, in Philo's day,
by the Roman prefect who took the place, locally, of the Ptolemies of
old. In this Jewish corporation it would appear that Philo played an


intelligent part, at least, if he did not have an important administrative
post of some sort through the greater part of his life.
The Jewish sense of solidarity as a race, though scattered throughout


the world, often appears in Philo's writings, with such emphasis that it
clearly represents an additional political loyalty for him. Philo called
this racial group h KaSoAiKonxpa noAixcia TouSaiuv,^9 and for it he was
ready to give his life.


Within Alexandria Philo was at once a citizen and an alien. He was a
citizen in so far as he was subject to the general rule of the prefect, paid
taxes, and had definite recognized rights. He was an alien in so far as he
had no share in the Greek organization of the city which the Romans
had largely continued. But the relation of the Jewish community of


Alexandria with its ruler, the Roman prefect, and, in a sense, with its
parallel, the Greek commonwealth of the city, were highly important
for him.



  1. See my Jurisprudence, 15 ff.; also Tracy, 9-13. Further bibliography will be found in those
    places.

  2. Legat., 194. See Tracy, 9; Geiger, 95-118; L. Finkelstein, A\iba, New York, 1936, 67 and
    324, n. 93.

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